Political Correctness – Where did it come from?

Political Correctness - What is it?

For most of the Twentieth Century, the Soviet Union was aggressively spreading its brand of Marxism. For decades, at least two countries per year were falling to the Communist Bloc. It would take too long to give even the briefest outline of Marxism, which promised an earthly paradise in the distant future, if the methods of Marxist Revolution were carried out now. Unfortunately, the policies of the Soviet governments amounted to waging war against their own citizens. A central principle was: tight central control of public life. From time to time, the Soviet leadership had to change or reverse some decision (such as whether to support Hitler’s war). Yet they could never admit to any mistake. Therefore the leaders adopted the principle of “The Party Line”. Whenever a course of action or statement of policy had been decided upon, every Communist Party Member without exception was expected to “follow the Party Line”. Public debate was completely outlawed. Any dissenters were ruthlessly “purged” – thrown out of the Party – sometimes with serious personal consequences. This policy provided a means whereby the Party had very considerable strength and power. Yet it required the loyal Party members to accept a situation where they might at any time be required to change their stance from one day to the next – in other words, to sacrifice their integrity – and it caused many members to drop out in disillusionment.

The democratic tradition has been to allow open and public debate upon issues of public importance, followed eventually by a vote. Human nature being what it is, it is virtually impossible to get every single citizen to agree, but most are willing to accept a majority decision in the interests of the Public Good. (An exception has been where a person believes that the majority decision has contradicted a Divine Law, which is considered non-negotiable. In these circumstances the individual must either change their religious belief, or defy the human law and take the consequences).

The Soviet Union collapsed at the beginning of the 1990s, but in recent years the so-called democratic countries of the Free West have seen an increasing adoption of the Soviet trick of The Party Line. Certain topics cannot be debated in public without incurring the full force of Official Wrath. One side of a thorny issue is simply forbidden a forum, and another side is assumed to be true and obvious, but without any attempt at honest debate. This is a very dangerous trend for the survival of free thought. A whole range of attitudes at present may be brought under the heading of “Political Correctness”. Have you ever read a newspaper article or listened to a radio chat show and heard the announcer stick totally to one side of an issue that so obviously has more to it than is being admitted? And proponents of the other side being subjected to personal attacks upon their integrity instead of being shown where they might be wrong? Did you ever wonder, “Just who’s paying him/her to say that?” This is not to suggest that cash payments are being made to individuals, but to encourage you to think about this pervasive pressure that is being unfairly applied to public debate at the present time.

The Other Side